5Star TV Guide: Listings, Schedule & What’s On 5Star Tonight

5Star is Channel 5’s reality and factual-entertainment channel, built on the landlord, tenant and bailiff documentaries that made its daytime reputation, plus imported true-story series and Piers Morgan’s nightly opinion slot. It’s part of the Paramount-owned Channel 5 stable and free to watch on Freeview 32. Tonight, Wednesday 5 August 2026, two episodes of Home and Away open the evening at 6pm and 6:30pm, then Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts at 7pm and GPs: Behind Closed Doors at 8pm carry the medical strand through to 9pm, when Crocodile Dundee II takes over the film slot, breaking briefly for Entertainment News on 5 before Total Recall closes the night. Channel numbers for every platform are in the table further down.

5Star Schedule: Wednesday 5 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5Star schedule for Wednesday 5 August 2026, on Freeview 32.

What’s on 5Star today

The small hours open with medical documentary Surgeons: A Matter of Life or Death at midnight, followed by Cold Case Killers at 1am and a run of Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts, Skin A&E and Friends taking the schedule past 3:30am. Teleshopping fills 4am to 7am, then Shop: Must Have Ideas and eFOLDi Mobility Scooters cover the two half-hours before the daytime schedule proper begins.

Wednesday daytime leans hard on the landlord-and-bailiff strand the channel is best known for. Two episodes of Bargain-Loving Brits in the Sun run from 8am, Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords follows at 10am, and three episodes of Traffic Cops carry the schedule from 11am to 2pm. Police Interceptors then runs three episodes back to back from 2pm to 5pm, before Shoplifters: Caught Red Handed at 5pm hands over to Home and Away and the evening line-up.

5Star tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5Star primetime line-up for tonight, Wednesday 5 August 2026.

Home and Away — 5Star, 6pm

Harper throws caution to the wind, Sonny faces an ultimatum and David’s big day turns bittersweet in this episode (series 39, episode 118), the earlier of two instalments 5Star runs back to back tonight.

Home and Away — 5Star, 6:30pm

A new episode follows straight on: John buckles under pressure, David and Amelia strike a deal, and Sonny does something 5Star’s own billing only describes as “the unthinkable” (series 39, episode 119).

Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts — 5Star, 7pm

Not to be confused with the BBC drama of a similar name, this is 5Star’s fly-on-the-wall series following real A&E departments. Tonight’s episode (series 6, episode 1) follows junior doctor Jake Mullen as he assesses 44-year-old patient Kay, whose flu-like symptoms raise the risk of a contagious strain spreading through the ward.

GPs: Behind Closed Doors — 5Star, 8pm

Three consultations make up tonight’s edition (series 8, episode 23): a three-year-old sent for urgent tests after antibiotics fail to help her, a woman worried about a mole on her toe, and a patient who has to stand throughout her appointment because of severe back pain.

Crocodile Dundee II — 5Star, 9pm

Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski return as Mick Dundee and Sue Charlton for this 1988 sequel, which drags the pair’s New York life into a drug-cartel plot before shifting the action back to the Australian outback for its climax. It’s broader and less sharp than the original, but Hogan’s easy charm still carries it. The film pauses for Entertainment News on 5 at 10:05pm and resumes five minutes later.

Total Recall — 5Star, 11:20pm

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1990 Mars thriller closes out the night. Construction worker Douglas Quaid buys a virtual holiday memory that unravels into a real conspiracy, with Sharon Stone playing against type as his wife. Paul Verhoeven directs with the blunt, violent style he’d bring to RoboCop and Starship Troopers.

What kind of shows are on 5Star

Landlord, tenant and bailiff documentaries

This is where 5Star has its own patch. Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords and its spin-off Extreme Nightmare Tenants follow eviction specialists and rogue-landlord investigations, while Call the Bailiffs: Time to Pay Up! turns the same doorstep tension towards unpaid debt. No other British free-to-air channel gives this much schedule space to the subject.

Reality, true-story and consumer documentary

Skin A&E, Dirty Home Rescue and Scam City: Don’t Get Caught Out! cover the rest of the factual output, and imports such as Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly Australia bring in versions of formats British viewers already know from the domestic originals.

Opinion, news and chat

Piers Morgan Uncensored gives 5Star a nightly dose of studio argument, a YouTube-native format repurposed for a terrestrial evening slot since the 2025 deal.

Sitcom reruns

Friends is the channel’s long-serving gap-filler, though these days it tends to surface in the small hours rather than in the morning blocks it once held.

How to watch 5Star

Channel numbers

Here’s where to find 5Star across the main UK television platforms:

5Star is free on all of the above platforms, with no subscription required. Virgin Media and Freesat channel numbers may vary slightly depending on your box and region, so your on-screen guide is the definitive source if these don’t match.

Streaming online

5Star streams live and free at channel5.com and via the 5 app (formerly known as My5, before Channel 5’s 2025 rebrand unified its linear and streaming services under one name) on smart TVs, iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire TV. You’ll need a free account, which costs nothing to set up. Many 5Star programmes also turn up on demand, though not every title stays available indefinitely.

5Star +1 and sister channels

5Star+1 plays the same schedule an hour behind, which is useful on a channel that so often runs three episodes of the same series in a row. It’s on Sky (228), Virgin Media (326) and Freesat (141). There’s no +1 slot for 5Star on Freeview, so Freeview viewers who miss the start of something have to pick it up on demand.

5Star sits alongside two other channels in the Paramount-owned Channel 5 family. 5USA, on Freeview 33, carries US crime dramas and imported procedurals. 5Action, on Freeview 21, focuses on action films and adventure series. All three, plus the main Channel 5, stream together through the 5 app.

Frequently asked questions

What channel is 5Star on Freeview?

5Star is on Freeview channel 32. It’s also on Sky (128), Virgin Media (126) and Freesat (131), all free with no subscription.

What’s on 5Star tonight?

Two episodes of Home and Away open the evening at 6pm and 6:30pm, then Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts at 7pm and GPs: Behind Closed Doors at 8pm carry the medical strand through to 9pm. Crocodile Dundee II takes the film slot from 9pm, pausing for Entertainment News on 5 at 10:05pm, and Total Recall closes the night at 11:20pm. Full listings are in the schedule table above.

Can I watch 5Star online for free?

Yes. It streams live at channel5.com and through the 5 app (formerly My5); you’ll need a free account. Many programmes also appear on demand afterwards.

Verdict

Wednesday’s strongest pull is the Crocodile Dundee II and Total Recall double bill from 9pm. Neither film needs an introduction, and pairing a broad action comedy with a hard-edged sci-fi thriller gives the second half of the evening more range than 5Star’s schedule usually offers.

Everything before it is the channel’s standard weeknight run: two episodes of Home and Away, then Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts and GPs: Behind Closed Doors carrying the medical strand to 9pm. Dependable rather than essential, but rarely a bad way to spend an hour.

Related: What’s On TV Tonight | Channel 5 TV Guide | Freeview Channel Guide